Does talk of a GB team for the London Olympics pose a threat to West Ham? If I understand it correctly, players beneath a certain age have to be released for the Olympics teams if they are selected. For many clubs, this would not be a huge problem, but with our rapidly emerging young talent, could we find ourselves seriously disadvantaged in 2012? At this stage, Noble, Collison, Stanislas and Tomkins would appear very good bets for GB selection, with Sears an outside possibility. In addition, given anticipated progress, Savio could well be in the German squad. That means we could lose as many as 5 of our then first team, and that is not allowing for the progress of our young Icelandic lad, Stech, Bajner and Spence, all of whom hopefully have bright futures ahead of them.
Now I am patriotic and a passionate fan of the England team, but for me, the Olympics has nothing to do with football, and I would be furious if players were unavailable for selection for West Ham because they had been picked for the GB team. Personally, I think the FA and the Premier League should wash their hands of the whole event and say that the World Cup is football's Olympics!
18 comments:
WOuldn't really affect us too much unless we piced up some injuries as Olympics is from mid July to second week in August when tradionally our season starts 3rd Saturday of Aug. May affect pre season.
Would involve training through summer, players getting stale earlier. Look at how Villa have fallen away this year.
we have U16 and U18 international players as well. The future is claret and blue.
Why are you worried? Everyone knows that Manure's youth team will get picked regardless of how good they actually are.
May want to re write your original article if you want to talk about burn out etc etc.
Testing... (sorry Fanno)
Turning into a very readable blog this one, Mr Fanno. Always enjoyed your contributions to certain 'other' sites.
Cheers supernumbersix.
What was that about apache?
Hammersfan just a quick thought but dont the teams in the football at the olympics have to go through a qualifying campaign? Wont that mean games during the regular season on top of european championship games?
I've no idea mate. Like I say in the article, I think football in the Olympics is a farce, irrespective of how it impacts on West Ham. Thanks for the fantastic account of your day at Villa by the way!
I have my own (much neglected) blog, so just seeing if I could log in and post on here without having to choose an identity malarky...
By the way, for all the anonymous users, stick a name on!
What's the link to yours Apache? Want to post it on here?
Thanks Fanno, but not just yet... When I say 'neglected', I do mean 3 or 4 posts the first evening I set it up, and then none since!
Having said that, I do have the real goal of the season on there, I'll stick a link up tomorrow...
Cheers mate.
F*#k GB as an England fan i would rather see an English Team, there arent any jocks paddies or tafs that would get into an olympic team anyway it would be all English with a few token celts. And while i am on the subject, F*#k the union jack too, my flag is the cross of st. george.
ANDY, "F*#k the union jack too, my flag is the cross of st. george."..... and where is St George & the picture of him slaying a dragon from? Yes you've guessed it Turkey!! But what about the red and white crossed flag, I hear you say, well, St George's Cross was originally the flag of Genoa (Italy) from 1020 and was adopted by England and the City of London in 1190 for their ships entering the Mediterranean to benefit from the protection of the powerful Genoese fleet...... Before you display ignorance or racism, know your country's (mixed) past otherwise you run the risk of looking like a bigoted uneducated tw*t......
Calm down mate - the Olympics is still three years away. Anything could happen between now and then.
LOL Well said Anon 1809. I have left the original post up so yours makes sense. There's also a school of thought that says "George" was a Muslim and died at the stake (the dragon) because he refused to abandon his faith! The absurd thing is, of course, that the Welsh language is closest to Old English. We "English" are a mix of Angles, Saxons, Italians, Normans and Vikings. The Welsh are the true Celts (with an el between the c & the t!)and are more "English" by origin and heritage than any "Englishman" will ever be!
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